Wrong size Surosa Audax

nkt

Hi,

I bought a 58cm Surosa Audax 18 months ago for general cycling, commuting and the occasional longer-distance jaunt. I loved it initially, however, I'm sick of not being able to use the drops as the handlebars are 10cm lower than the saddle with 6cm of spacers and the stem inverted. Even riding on the hoods is uncomfortable. I'm 5'11" with longish legs (33" inseam). Will swapping the 58cm for the 60cm Surosa frame solve my problems or should I start from scratch and get measured for a new bike? I'm currently unemployed so I'm ideally looking for an inexpensive solution.

Thanks in advance :-)

what brakes

You will def get a free fitting on a new bike and im sure you could haggle for it free if just buying the frame! It will be worth it...

Failing that a basic fitting is about £40 and a profit is over £100... but unless your intending to race etc The basic will do what you want.

tenor

nkt;
most of the cheaper 'winter' bikes have short head tubes in proportion to frame size. This is also true of Thorn and Ribble as much as Surosa.
Rather than start again, which would be expensive, you could fit a stem with a more extreme rise. There are several available, but remember that you will need a longer stem as the rise will reduce the forward reach. In other words a 100 normal stem would need to be replaced with a 120 steep rise version. It may look a little ungainly at first, but what the hell, you want a bike that is comfortable to ride, yes?
Cost about £25. Wiggle also offer a Ritchey adjustable stem at 30.
Good luck and I hope you get back into work soon.
Terry

Tom Butcher

Also some bars have a deeper drop than others - you may already have shallow drop bars but if not might be worth looking out for a set. Never used shallow drop myself though so others may be able to advise on whether that is a worthwhile idea.

Chris James

Not sure how the Surosa is measured but 58cm sounds quite large for a person 5 ft 11 in tall.

I am 5 ft 11 1/2, 33cm inseam and ride a 57cm (centre to top of seat tube, horizontal top tube, 57cm top tube). My bar tops are about two inches below my saddle.

Getting a large frame would probably mean longer top tube so more of a stretch to the bars.

Has the steerer tube on your forks been cut very short? Might sound a daft question, but I assume there are no spacers above the stem that could be moved below thereby raising the bars?

If not then your best options are either getting a stem with more rise or, if the steerer tube has been cut very short on your current bike, getting new forks and cutting them to allow a stack of spacers under the stem.

Either course of action will be much cheaper than buying a new frame!

Chris James

Sorry, didn't full read your post. You already have 6cm of spacers.

Which part of your bars is 10cm below the saddle. The drops or the tops? 58cm - is that the top tube or (effective) seat tube length?

nkt

Thanks for all the replies. The tops are 10cm lower. I managed to squeeze in an extra spacer a while back and the top of the stem is now higher than the top of the steerer tube, if you follow. The 58cm refers to the seat tube, i.e. centre of bottom bracket to top of seat tube. It's a horizontal top tube, but the seat tube protrudes 2.5cm hgher than the top tube, so I suppose the effective seat tube length is 55.5cm. There is a further 14cm of seatpost showing. The top tube length is 58cm centre-to-centre and when I place my elbow against the front of the saddle my fingers just graze the handlebar. If it's any help, the Surosa geometry chart is available here:

http://bit.ly/6pMSSD

prawny

That does sound big, I'm 5,10" and I'd be looking at a 52 or 54. The Horizontal TT measurement on my boardman is 55cm, that's long enough for a nice flat position but comfy enough, although I still feel a bit stretched on occasion.

Edit:

Although if your seat is that high above the bars you've got loooooong legs. So a smaller frame probably won't work. I say bike fitting.

Mossrider

It seems a very large size you're riding - I'm about the same size as you and ride a surosa audax - I'll check the measurement but I'm pretty sure its a 55cm, and I wouldn't want anything bigger.

I've always found Surosa pretty helpful - why not go in and have a chat with them.

mrushton

I'm about your size and ride a 56cm bike. Generally as long as the tt is 56 or 56.5 I'll be fine using Deda shallow drops and a 9 or 10cm stem. 60cm sound far too big. Maybe go backto Surosa or visit Bike Doctor in Mcr or Paul Hewitt/Leyland

nkt

My original thinking was that it was on the small size, hence so much seatpost and stem showing. I can't pop in to see them as I live in Falkirk! I bought it mail order but the chap discussed measurements with me in great detail over the phone and got me to take measurements from my then-current bike (an old Peugeot UO-8 type which was then stolen.)

tobciocc

That does seem very large for 5ft 8ins, I also need a frame with a taller headtube. The specialized Allez, Secteur have taller than the norm. Also the Kinesis Kic2 is good in this respect.

nkt

I'm 5'11"!

keef66

He's not 5'8", he's 5'11" with a 33" inseam!

I have the same problem but on a smaller scale; I'm 5'6" with a 31" inseam. I need a small frame so the TT length doesn't leave me feeling too stretched out, but then when the saddle height is set propely, there's a big drop from saddle to bars so I need spacers and the stem flipped upwards.

Next bike will be made to measure or I'll consider women's geometry.

Chris James

To be honest, I am still a bit unsure about the sizing as I am pretty much exactly the same size as you. My 57cm seat tube projects about 1.5 cm (at a guess) above my top tube and my top tube is 57cm (same as yours). With my elbow on the nose of my saddle my fingers touch the stem but I need four fingers width more to get to the bars!

The Surosa frame angles look pretty similar to mine too - in fact my head tube is shorter than yours but 2cm.

Have you used 109% rule or similar for your saddle? 58cm + 14cm (seatpost showing) + 6cm (guess for height from rails to saddle top) + 17.5cm (cranks) = 95.5cm.

33 inch inside leg * 1.09 = 91.5cm.

I presume your saddle isn't too high?

Otherwise I can only suggest buying new forks with more steerer tube left. Sorry. I don't think you'd want a bigger frame though.

amaferanga

To the OP - I think a picture of your bike set-up might help people understand exactly what's going on.

nkt

nkt

Not sure why that didn't work. Anyway, in response to the above, I re-measured my inside leg and it's actually 34". But even then, my seat height should be 93.7cm but distance from pedal spindle to top of saddle is 96cm so I'll try reducing it a bit.

nkt

keef66

woah! that's a lot of spacers you've got there. Makes my bike look nearly normal.

Simplest seat height check is to sit on the saddle and put your heels on the pedals. At the bottom of the stroke your leg should be nearly straight. Check both sides.

amaferanga

That doesn't look like such a big drop, but you're not happy with it so its a problem.

But it does look like you have quite a short stem so I can't see you being comfortable with a larger size of the Surosa.

From the sounds of it you want something with the geometry of a Specialized Secteur/Roubaix.

Chris James

With my ruler on that photo it looks like your drop is about 8.5 cm.

My 33in inside leg has a saddle height of 91.5 (just measured it) and a drop of 7cm to the bars. My bars could comfortably still go lower though, to be honest.

I would go with the saddle height you feel comfortable with rather than a calculated one, but it might be worth getting someone to see if you are rocking in the saddle - which would indictae it being too high - and if so dropping it a bit, thereby helping curing your bar height issue at the same time?

nkt

Thanks for all the replies. I'm glad that I don't need a new frame after all :-)